As one of the oldest families in the Magic Realm, the Black family indeed has quite a collection of books, all accumulated through generations.
Moreover, there are rumors that during Phineas Black's tenure as Hogwarts Headmaster, many treasured books from the school library disappeared—most likely taken by him and hidden in the Black family's collection.
But Phineas himself never admitted to such a thing, and he often quarreled with other portraits about it.
Of course, all this happened centuries ago, so there's no way to confirm whether it's true or not.
Led by the House-elf Kreacher, the two of them walked through the hall and kitchen, heading toward the basement behind the storage cupboard.
On the way, they ran into the trio who were discussing their holiday assignments, along with Lupin. They were also quite interested in the Black library and wanted to come along for a look.
Sirius naturally agreed. Kreacher, although extremely unwilling to let Hermione—a Muggle-born witch—step into the most important place in the Black house, could only grumble and reluctantly continue leading the way since both Sirius and Kael had nodded in approval.
The group arrived in the dark, damp basement. After Kreacher fiddled with the fireplace for a while, that moldy cupboard in the corner immediately sprang open to either side, revealing a spacious passageway beyond.
As they stepped inside, the torches on both sides of the corridor lit up at once.
"This is incredible, I never thought there was such a hidden place here," Harry couldn't help saying. "Feels just like an adventure."
"That's pretty normal," said Ron. "After all, the Black family has been around for hundreds of years."
The corridor wasn't long, and they soon entered a very large room.
Unlike the basement, here there wasn't even the slightest trace of mildew in the air—in fact, there wasn't even any dust.
Brilliant sunlight streamed in through windows enchanted with Magic, flooding the room with light. They could clearly see nearly a hundred bookshelves, all crammed full of a wide variety of books.
Although it wasn't as impressive as the school library, considering this was in someone's home, the sheer number was already astonishing.
"Oh! My God!" Hermione exclaimed reflexively. "You actually built a library at home!"
"This place is just amazing," Lupin couldn't help but add. "Sirius, why did you never tell me you had a library down here?"
He'd lived there for quite a while, but Sirius had never mentioned this spot to him before.
Sirius's face went slightly red, because he himself hadn't known there was such a place in the house.
After all, he'd moved out of this house since he was sixteen, only returning not long ago.
As for the time before he was sixteen—
Who would bother reading books when home for the holidays? Maybe some people would, but he was definitely not one of them.
Still, facing Lupin and Harry, he couldn't say that out loud—so he could only mumble awkwardly,
"Well, I just forgot. You know, after twelve years in Azkaban, there's a lot I don't remember."
"No wonder," Lupin said.
And he didn't doubt it—being around Dementors for a long time would make anyone forget many things.
Hermione couldn't resist stepping forward.
Seeing this, Kreacher immediately jumped like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
"Get your foot off the floor, you—"
"Kreacher, can I ask for a favor?" Before he could finish, Kael's voice interrupted from the side.
Kreacher's attitude shifted instantly, and he replied respectfully, "Always at your service, Master Kael."
"How about helping me find a few books?" Kael asked. "I imagine you're familiar with this place."
"Kreacher knows where every single book is!" the little elf declared, thumping his chest.
"Good to hear." Kael glanced back to make sure nobody else was paying attention, then bent down and whispered something into the House-elf's ear.
Then he asked, "Do you have these books?"
"Yes," Kreacher nodded, and hurried toward the farthest bookshelf.
As soon as he left, Hermione—who had just been startled—gathered her courage and, accompanied by Lupin, stepped into the library.
She went to the nearest bookshelf, examining the titles with keen interest.
Unlike in the school library, the books here hadn't been screened at all.
Some books that were kept in the Restricted Section at school, requiring professors' signatures to check out, were sitting right out in the open here—she could just grab one off the shelf.
For a moment, Hermione's face was flushed with excitement, looking just like a Niffler who'd wandered into a Gringotts Vault.
Soon, Kreacher returned.
Seeing that a werewolf and a Muggle-born witch had entered the library, he immediately tensed up, ready to throw them out.
But in the next second, Sirius stopped him.
"I gave them permission, Kreacher," he said. "Don't disturb them. That's an order!"
With no choice, Kreacher could only bow resentfully and agree.
He didn't look at Lupin and Hermione again, but came straight to Kael, presenting the thick stack of books in his hands as though offering up a treasure.
"Thank you, Kreacher," Kael said as he accepted the books.
"It's Kreacher's honor," the little elf replied. "If Master Kael needs anything else, just ask."
"Not for now," Kael replied.
Kreacher had brought him five books in total. Kael set them on a table at the side and began to flip through them.
The book on top had an illustration of a jointed magic wand.
"Secrets of Wand"
Below that,
"Broken Wand: Constraint or Assistance"
The last two books were also about wands.
The Ministry of Magic's abrupt interrogation had woken Kael up a bit. To be safe, he wanted to know just what kind of Magic Diana used before—that spell which could dispel a Priori Incantatem effect.
But Diana had since returned to the Department of Mysteries, so there was no way she could teach him in the short term. Kael wondered if it might be described in any of the books here.
He had just told Kreacher that he wanted books related to wands, and Kreacher had fetched these for him.
But there was no rush—The Ministry of Magic wouldn't trouble him again anytime soon. After leafing through the books for a while, Kael set them aside, then picked up the bottom, final one.
This one had a brown cover, faded purple patterns around the edges, and its title in the center.
"Advanced Black Magic Unveiled"
Kael only glanced at it, then quickly covered it with another book, taking deep breaths.
He'd been wondering: this book had originally been in the Hogwarts library, then taken away by Dumbledore—perhaps copies could be found elsewhere too.
Nicolas might have had one in his library in Paris, but that place was also magically restricted—he couldn't get at certain books on Dark Magic there either.
Kael had initially planned to ask Nicolas about it later. But when Mr. Weasley invited him to No. 12 Grimmauld Place, he was suddenly struck by a thought:
As a Pure-Blood family with centuries of history, surely they'd have at least a few books about Dark Magic at home, right?
So he'd only asked on a whim—and unexpectedly, there really was one here.
...